FISHER BOSHES BABIC AS SHAK SHINES IN NEWARK
We were treated to the good, the bad AND the ugly on Saturday night as Johnny Fisher claimed the biggest victory of his career so far, whilst Shakur Stevenson staked his claim as the best lightweight on the planet over in the States.
We’ll start with the good, and there’s no better place to begin the weekend review than at the newly named Copper BOSH Arena where Fisher stole the show in front of thousands of his faithful courtesy of a devastating first-round stoppage of the former world title challenger Alen Babic.
Billed as a big step up for Fisher, which on paper it was, it took him just 36 seconds to stop the Croat to send the packed-out arena into a complete frenzy.
From originally being viewed as just a young, popular fighter who can sell a few tickets, Fisher is now establishing a reputation as one of the biggest prospects in the heavyweight division, and his performance on Saturday night will only aid his growing belief.
Equally as impressive was Shakur Stevenson, who defended his WBC world lightweight title against the game German Artem Harutyunyan.
In a fight which started relatively slowly, Stevenson was always in control and from round four onwards, he was pushing the pace rather than sitting on the back foot and outboxing Harutyunyan.
With the final bell ringing, we went to the cards where Stevenson claimed a unanimous points decision win, despite the judges calling it a lot closer than how it was perceived by most.
Stevenson is now a free promotional agent and with the likes of Eddie Hearn lurking, it could well be the biggest year of his boxing career to date.
Now for the bad…
Judges’ scorecards are often a topic of discussion, usually for all the wrong reasons and so it proved once more as O’Shaquie Foster made the third defence of his WBC world super-featherweight title against the three-time world title challenger and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao.
In a fight where Foster outboxed the Brazilian, landing 109 punches to Conceicao’s 76 despite throwing 264 punches less than the challenger, SOMEHOW he lost courtesy of a split-decision.
Foster outlanded his opponent in 10 or the 12 rounds and despite Conceicao’s workrate, the champion was seemingly always in control of proceedings. For any judge to give the fight in favour of Conceicao is absolutely scandalous.
The Brazilian has been unlucky in previous world title fights, and he should have had his hand raised when fighting Emanuel Navarrete for the WBO world title in November, but two wrongs don’t make a right and this is just another example of what could be deemed as complacent, horrendous officiating.
Now for the ugly, and a boxing debut for former UFC star Darren Till in Dubai.
Originally scheduled to make his boxing debut against former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard, Till instead took on fellow MMA fighter Mohammad Mutie.
From the off, it was clear Mutie was looking for an excuse to get out of there. Following persistent moaning to the referee for the smallest issues, he took a knee in round two after the softest of rabbit punches from Till.
The ref had seen enough and waved the fight off, only for Mutie to then complain once again and march over to confront Till, before a mass brawl erupted inside the ring.
It was ugly from Mutie, really ugly, and something which could have been easily avoided if he had simply come to box.
Either way, Till went on to call out Jake Paul, Mike Perry and Tommy Fury in his post-fight interview so there are potential big nights ahead for the Liverpudlian.
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